Cars in field: 41
Pole: Chase Briscoe (19)
Outside Pole: Austin Cindric (2)
Stages: 65-65-70
Weather: Mostly cloudy, 81°F, Feels like 75°, Feels like (shade) 74°, Wind SW 18 mph, Wind Gusts 30 mph
AirForce One is flying by the track and being shown extensively during Chase Elliott’s on-desk interview. I guess watching a plane is much more interesting than the guest who has been invited to appear on the show. Chris Myers interrupted Chase, without apology, to mention that the crowd response was due to the plane flying over. They are continuing to show the plane flying around, cutting back occasionally to the NASCAR drivers and Chris Myers on the desk. Astounding how often they get it wrong.
The race time was moved up according to MRN, but the nascar.com Timeline remains greyed-out. Guess they didn’t get the memo. Or the stupid new mess of a leaderboard is malfunctioning. Yuck.
Finally, at 1347 eastern Anthony Mackie ‘Captain America’ gives the command to start the engines. The cars are heading to their pit boxes on lap 11 of 200. Caution on lap 9 of 200 for rain.
Moody says it’s not raining in turn two. He said they got a quick sprinkle two or three minutes or so. Kyle Rickey said he saw the same at the other end of turn two, 3-4 minutes of rain. Tim Calafano says the wind has changed direction and the temperature feels like it’s dropped five degrees or more. He says it’s also not raining currently in turn four, after a quick sprinkle a few minutes ago. The clouds are very dark over the speedway.
1422 eastern – The red flag is out for rain. The drivers sit in their cars, in their pitboxes.
1426 eastern the drivers are climbing out and the car overs are going onto the vehicles as the rain returns.
Darrell ‘Bubba’ Wallace’s (23) crew chief mentioned, on MRN, they’re going to “sit for a couple hours”. Sounds like he’s expecting this rain to hang around a while. It also appears the grandstands have mostly cleared.
MRN reports former champions Josef Newgarden and Scott Dixon from IndyCar have been in the garage this week, and are at the race.
Alex Bowman (48) on MRN says it’s probably going to rain for the next couple hours.
At 1453 MRN announced they will be turning the broadcast back over to local stations.
MRN reports at 1457 eastern the presidential motorcade is headed back over to AirForce One.
MRN sends the broadcast back to local stations and will update at an unspecified time.
MRN will update at the top and bottom of every hour.
Chris Buescher (17) said when he came to RFK Racing Jack’s (Roush, owner) conversation was, “We don’t ride around here. We race.” and Chris said that’s what you want to hear.
Looking at the clock while MRN is counting down to air time, it appears they are one minute behind my local time.
MRN update. Rain continues to fall. They will next update at the top of the hour.
MRN update. “The skies get brighter. Track drying started about 45 minutes ago. They still have a lot of work to do in the turns and the backstretch. The temperature has dropped considerably. It was 81 degrees when the green flag dropped. We’re in the upper 50s now with the wind blowing.”
Weather: 4:39 PM Cloudy, 59°F, Feels like 53°, Wind W 9 mph, Wind Gusts 11 mph
MRN update. The return to racing is close enough that they’re staying on-air this time.
Drivers are being called back to their cars. They need to be ready to go at 1725 eastern.
At 1731 eastern the caution flag is now out and cars are lining up behind the pace car and hitting the track. The skies are still cloudy. The temperature has dropped more than 20 degrees. There is a possibility of more weather arriving. The cars line up in the order in which they came down pit road. There’s still a bit of mopping up in specific areas of the track, pit stalls, the turn four apron, among others.
CURRENT WEATHER 5:39 PM – Cloudy, 61°F, Feels like 59°, Wind SW 5 mph, Wind Gusts 9 mph
Cars are pitting on lap 17 of 200.
Joey Logano (22) wins the race off pit road.
On lap 18 of 200 rain has started to fall on the racetrack again extending the caution period.
The cars have been brought down pit road on lap 21 of 200 as the volume of rain increases. The drivers are still in the cars at 1753 eastern. At 1755 the red flag is out and the car covers are placed on the cars. The drivers are still in the cars. Luckily it makes it dark so we’re not stuck looking at drivers sitting in cars doing nothing – which we were.
Cliff Daniels, crew chief of the 5 car said, “whether we race tonight, or tomorrow…”, during his MRN interview.
1804 eastern the car covers are coming off. Television was showing some drivers running for the bathroom.
1812 eastern The caution flag is out and the cars are heading back onto the track.
MRN’s Alex Hayden actually said “the weather radar is clear over the peninsula of Florida all the way across the Gulf of America”. He actually said Gulf of America. Unbelievable.
Jimmie Johnson’s (84) crew chief said he might pit for fuel again.
Ryan Blaney (12), Zane Smith (38), Riley Herbst (35), Jimmie Johnson (84) all pit, as well as Justin Haley and Cody Ware. They will restart at the tail end of the longest line.
Restarting on lap 23 of 200 with Joey Logano (22), William ‘WilliB’ Byron (24), Austin Cindric (2), Chase Briscoe (19), Ross Chastain (1), Ty Dillon (10), Darrell ‘Bubba’ Wallace (23), Kyle ‘KyBu’ Busch (8), John Hunter Nemechek (42), Chase Elliott (9), and Corey LaJoie (01), Tyler ‘TyRed’ Reddick (45), AJ Allmendinger (16), ‘Desperate’ Denny Hamlin (11), Chris Buescher (17) and Austin Dillon (3) up front.
Apparently NASCAR is paying points for the fastest lap. I didn’t really check out the 2025 rules package. I just couldn’t get interested in NASCAR before the Super Bowl. I didn’t really get into the spirit until yesterday’s Xfinity Series race. I think last season left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth for the sport. Currently Cody Ware has the fastest lap on lap 40 of 200, at 195.80 mph.
Speaking of leaving a bad taste – Trump’s visit and the accompanying glad-handing and that idiotic ‘Gulf of America’ mention had me re-thinking watching the event. That was extraordinarily distasteful and, as it is when he’s involved, hateful.
AJ Allmendinger (16) is poking around the track slowly on lap 43 of 200. Alan Cavana says AJ says it’s blowing up. He eventually makes it to pit road.
On lap 58 of 200 the front six cars are single-file and the field behind them are three-wide. That has extended to the top ten to twelve are single-file on lap 60 of 200.
Caution on lap 62 of 200. We were looking at a car hood from a bumper-cam and could kind of see something happening behind that hood. Idiotic camera shots that are totally useless for those of us interested in actually watching the race. ‘Desperate’ Denny Hamlin (11) checked up and got tapped in the rear by Smith. Hamlin went onto the apron. Josh Berry (21) and Zane Smith (38). Hamlin goes onto the bumper then the 38 of Zane Smith bumped the door of the 2 of Austin Cindric and spun out into Josh Berry (21).
Stage one ends under caution with Joey Logano (22) at the front of the field.
Restarting on lap 70 of 200 with Joey Logano (22), Ryan Blaney (12), Daniel Suarez (99), Alex Bowman (48), Ricky ‘WreckySpinhouseJr’ Stenhouse Jr (47), Darrell ‘Bubba’ Wallace (23), Tyler ‘TyRed’ Reddick (45), Chase Elliott (9), William ‘WilliB’ Byron (24), and Christopher ‘CBell’ Bell (20) at the front of the field.
Cauton in turn two for a multi-vehicle crash involving John Hunter ‘JHN’ Nemecheck (42), Ross Chastain (1) and Helio Castroneves (91), who collected Chase Briscoe (19), Kyle Busch (8), Riley Herbst (), Jimmie Johnson (84), Riley Herbst (35), Cody Ware (51), Martin Truex Jr (56) and Justin Allgaier (88). Chastain got John Hunter Nemechek’ed and turned up into Helio (91) and they both spun in front of the pack. Logano didn’t get going on the restart and the field stacked up behind him, eventually resulting in JHN tapping the right rear of Chastain turning him and sending Chastain into Helio (91). Joey said on the radio he didn’t know if it was blowing up or what, it just wouldn’t go. He’s on pit lane on lap 73 of 200 while pit road is closed. After they recycled the ecu, Joey went back out and he said it’s still not running right. Harvick said he could hear it missing. I don’t know how he can hear anything with Clint Bowyer babbling on and on.
Restarting on lap 76 of 200 with Ryan Blaney (12), Chris Buescher (17), Ryan Preece (60), Daniel Suarez (99) up front.
Caution on lap 82 of 200 for debris.
Martin Truex Jr (56) is out of the race due the damage sustained in the last crash. He says, “it knocked the nose off the thing” during his MRN care center interview.
Joey Logano’s (22) team is still working on his car.
MRN reports Joey Logano (22) says they’re back at 100% now.
Restarting on lap 86 of 200 with Austin Cindric (2), Noah Gragson (4), Chase Elliott (9), Ryan Preece (60), Ryan Blaney (12), McDowell (71), Suarez (99), Reddick (45), and Alex Bowman (48) at the head of the field.
They’re racing around three-wide throughout the field. Unfortunately on lap 96 of 200 they’ve decided to show shots of everything but the exciting three-wide racing.
MRN’s Alex Hayden says 1.5 seconds separates the first car from the last car in the field on lap 106 of 200. MRN’s Rusty Wallace says the speed of the first car and the speed of the last car in the field are the same. He says he doesn’t know if he’s ever seen that before.
On lap 112 of 200 the field is double-file. MRN reports Alex Bowman (48) says he may have a vibration after leading the race for the past several laps.
MRN reports a third lane has formed on lap 115 of 200. Television is showing doors and hoods of single cars during a commercial break split-screen, so it is effectively not showing the race at this point.
This stage has been much more sporty. Enjoyable racing at the front of the field and occasionally we can see it.
On lap 119 of 200 the front six are single-file, then its two and three wide behind them.
On lap 124 of 200 the field is double-file throughout.
Jimmie Johnson (84) pits alone on lap 127 of 200.
Ryan Blaney (12) wins stage two, edging out his teammate Austin Cindric, off a push by Chase Elliott (9).
Joey Logano (22) is on pit road – which is closed – with the hood up on lap 132 of 200.
When television showed the racing, stage two was good, hard, exciting racing.
Ryan Blaney (12), Bubba Wallace (23), Austin Cindric (2) win the race off pit road.
Restarting on lap 137 of 200 with Ryan Blaney (12) and Kyle Busch (8) on the front row.
The crew chiefs are asking the drivers to save fuel.
FoxSports’ Mike Joy announced we’re going to have commercial free racing from this point on, on lap 139 of 200, courtesy of Toyota. Of course a graphic completely obscured the screen moments after he said that. The racing continued, we just couldn’t see it. Luckily it was only for about fifteen seconds.
Then we’re stuck watching a split-screen of the Erik Jones foundation on lap 142 of 200. So PSAs instead of commercials. I wish the bait-and-switch was unexpected, but I just didn’t buy that the rest of the event – 60 laps – would really be commercial free. That’s like expecting decent camera shots actually showing the field racing for the next 60 laps. On lap 144 of 200 a split-screen for an Ally commercial. I wonder why did that line really mean that Joy read? ‘During the split-screen we’re stuck looking at tires, doors, and the track surface.
On lap 148 of 200 now they’re showing some segment called Under The Helmet with the race split-screened again. Now we’re looking at doors through a right-side window. Suck idiotic video. The field is racing hard, three-side, and we can’t see it. We’re constantly looking through some weird camera shot that shows something else.
On lap 151 of 200 a split screen of the race and the 24 car fueler for no apparent reason. They are insistent on avoiding showing the actual field racing.
On lap 152 of 200 a split-screen for a Liberty Mutual Insurance commercial. Either I don’t understand what commerical-free means or whomever wrote that copy doesn’t.
MRN reports on lap 153 of 200 that the leaders (Bubba Wallace and Ryan Blaney) are running 65%-70% throttle and that Jimmie Johnson’s (84) crew chief said he needed to start doing the same, because fuel saving is the name of the game now.
Truly, that bubble glass/plastic shot of something that looks like a bumper makes me want to find the person who uses it and use magic to make them stop using that beyond ridiculous shot. It makes zero sense and looks awful and is simply distracting while I’m trying to watch the freaking race.
Caution on lap 162 of 200 for debris off Zane Smith’s (38) car.
Austin Cindric (2) beats Bubba Wallace off pit road – by inches – followed by Ryan Blaney (12), William ‘WilliB’ Byron (24), Chase Elliott (9) and Kyle ‘KyBu’ Busch (8).
Restarting on lap 165 of 200.
They keep showing stupid split-screens instead of full-screen racing which tends to be followed by doors, hood, bumpers, and track surface shots. FOX’s camera work is working hard to be as bad as NBC’s inability to actually broadcast the race.
The tension is building throughout the field. The television broadcast continues to interrupt the drama with split-screen shots of drivers talking to the camera. Luckily we’re listening to the MRN broadcast, though it’s at least a second behind the on-screen action.
Caution on lap 185 of 200 for a multi-car crash. Ricky Stenhouse Jr (47) gets turned in front of the field collecting Chase Elliot (9), Joey Logano (22), Ryan Blaney (12), Noah Gragson (4), and Kyle ‘KyBu’ Busch (8), Todd Gilliland (34), Cole Custer (41), Noah Gragson (4).
Restarting on lap 192 of 200 with Corey LaJoie (01), Austin Cindric (2), John Hunter ‘JHN’ Nemechek (42), ‘Desperate’ Denny Hamlin (11), Austin Dillon (3), CBell (20), Erik ‘EJ’ Jones (43), Riley Herbst (35), Cole Custer (41) and Daniel Suarez (99).
Caution on lap 196 of 200 as Bell gets turned in second, Ryan Preece goes upside down and rolls, Justin Allgaier collected, along with Keselowski (6), Daniel Suarez, Kyle Larson, Erik Jones, Bubba Wallace (23),
The race is red flagged on lap 196 of 200. Caution is out at 21:30 eastern. MRN reports the safety crews made fixes to the race track where the roof hit the track.
Restarting in overtime on lap 199 of 201 with ‘Desperate’ Denny Hamlin (11), Austin Cindric (2), Cole Custer (41), Riley Herbst (35), Alex Bowman (48), Corey LaJoie (01), Chase Briscoe (19), John Hunter’JHN’ Nemechek (42), William ‘WilliB’ Byron (24), Austin Dillon (3).
William Byron (24) wins as Custer wrecks Hamlin and most of the front of the field behind hi.
Congratulations to Jimmie Johnson (84) on a third place finish.
It’s the tenth Daytona 500 win for Hendrick Motorsports breaking the tie with Petty Enterprises for most Daytona 500 wins.
Congratulations to Alex Bowman (48) on a sixth place finish.
Congratulations to Ryan Blaney (12) on coming back to finish seventh after getting caught up in the previous wreck.
William ‘WilliB’ Byron (24) is a back-to-back winner.
Congratulations to Justin Allgaier (40) on finishing ninth.
MRN reports Michael McDowell gets the play-off point for the fastest lap with a lap of 199.252 mph.
The race was really exciting from the second stage on. The television coverage of an exciting race was generally god-awful. NASCAR needs to provide some way for fans who want to see the on-track action – just the majority of the field racing – to actually see that if the fan is unable to attend the race. The race was so exciting and watching the energy build through the field was gripping. The shame though, was that the dramatic, engaging video was constantly replaced by split-screens of things that weren’t exciting racing. I enjoyed the race since I had the luxury of listening to MRN actually calling the race and keeping us informed of what was actually occurring on track. Occasionally I turned on the television audio, but Bowyer talks about everything that captures his attention, all the time, so he’s constantly babbling about any and everything and rarely anything relevant. The actual racing seems to have improved. NASCAR needs to provide a means for fans to actually see the racing – not the track surface, not the doors, hoods and bumpers of cars, not views of portions of cars through plastic/plexiglass – live, full-field, racing action from a reasonable height without a drone. The view from the blimp is too high to gain more than a general idea that something is moving. I enjoy following the action visually. I enjoy watching strategy develop and play out. I enjoy watching high quality drivers display their skills and talents. Use of a drone in the NFL is tolerable since the players are only moving so fast. A drone attempting to keep up with race cars, or moving in the opposite direction performs a feat that does not add quality to the NASCAR broadcast. The sport generally moves to fast for the technology to really be leverages properly. I loved the race I heard on MRN. I liked the race I saw on the edges and the in the background of the television visuals. The FOXSports race as broadcast was just okay at best because it spent entirely too much time on things other than racing action from a reasonable camera shot that provided context and clearly told the visual story of the live race.
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